Rumination

rumination, 2018  

Rumination is an interactive fiction game using the platform Twine. If you would like to play the game before reading about its design, click here.

I wanted to make people think about something, to sharpen their perception and to make them think about their placement in the universe. This game has a narrative-like structure, with hyperlinks as the way to progress though the narrative. A large component to rumination’s structure is the dual hyperlinks where the player is given a choice (i.e. “abstract or concrete” and “dissonance or harmony”). The player infers that somehow though the act of choosing one, of preferring one, they are creating their own path though the game. However, as the game maker, I am giving the illusion of choice, as both links on a page will lead to the same screen following it, playing with one of the fundamental concepts of play - mimicry. In Roger Caillois’ “Man, Play and Games”, he explains that, “Play can consist not only of deploying actions or submitting one’s fate in an imaginary milieu, but of becoming an illusionary character oneself, and of so behaving.” I toy with the fact that I, as the game maker, am causing the player to potentially “submit” their fate in the milieu of rumination by having them feel like they must choose a certain path to proceed though the game. Or maybe, the game may cause the player to play a part, or to act in an a way different to their true self due to the quizzical and open-ended nature of the game. I also decided to disable the side bar and the back button, with the only chance to play again at the very end when the game is over (for convenience, if you wanted to show rumination to a friend, for example). This is because I felt that being able to go back and potentially change a choice you made in the past would inherently alter the player’s experience during the game and how they encountered the text of the game virtually unprepared. I aim for the non-meditated thought of the player.

To play, click here.